House prices aren’t the only reason regional Australia remains robust

Regional areas generally have benefited from the end of drought, exceptional growing conditions, and bumper crops and harvests since the onset of the pandemic, alongside increased consumer activity raising house prices thanks to COVD-motivated migration.

All have contributed to agriculture production ranking as the nation’s current “strongest industry performer, up 19.4 per cent in the December quarter compared with a year ago”, Mr Felsman reported.

The labour market reflected this hardiness, with regional Australia’s unemployment rate hitting a record low of 3.8 per cent in December 2021.

The economist’s opinion was borne out by the ensuing release of ABS’ latest regional growth figures, which showed that the population of regional Australia had surged overall by 70,900 people during 2020-21, outpacing capital city growth for the first time in more than 30 years.

“Regional New South Wales (up 26,800) and regional Queensland (24,100) led the way in terms of population growth over 2020-21, with regional Victoria (15,700) also increasing,” ABS director of demography Beidar Cho reported.

The capital cities, meanwhile, decreased by a cumulative 26,000 people, with Sydney, Melbourne, Darwin and Hobart reporting large drops and Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide and Canberra picking up some. Overall, however, it was the first population decline for the capitals ever recorded by the ABS. 

The population growth has been keenly felt in the property market over the course of the pandemic, with house prices up 22.3 per cent over the year to February, according to CoreLogic.

Mr Felsman said it was little wonder rural consumer sentiment remained relatively upbeat, off the back of increasing home prices, commodity prices surging, strong feed reserves, larger water allocations and the unemployment rate hovering around record lows.